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Creating YAML Standards: Best Practices for Teams

The DevOps revolution has taken the software engineering world by storm, bringing with it an abundance of new tools and technologies that have enabled teams to deploy applications faster and more reliably than ever before. But one of the most exciting developments in DevOps has been the emergence of YAML as a standard for describing software applications and their components. In this article, we'll discuss the basics of YAML, how it can be used to define software applications, and the role it will play in the future of DevOps.

What are the Benefits of YAML?

YAML has become increasingly popular in the world of DevOps due to its many benefits. Here are some of the main advantages of using YAML:

  • YAML enables quick application definition in a concise way.
  • IaC tools use YAML to define infrastructure.
  • Code can be generated from data models defined in YAML.
  • YAML is great for Pull Request and GitOps, enabling easy review and tracking of changes.
  • Variables and settings can be quickly defined in YAML for configuration management.

Cloud Infrastructure

YAML is quickly becoming a popular choice for defining cloud infrastructure, alongside more established tools such as Terraform. While both YAML and Terraform offer powerful ways to define cloud infrastructure, each has its own distinct advantages.

One of the biggest advantages of YAML is its flexibility and extensibility. YAML is a human-readable language that makes it easy to quickly define cloud infrastructure without having to write a lot of code. This makes it well-suited for teams who want to quickly define their infrastructure without having to invest a lot of time learning a new language. Additionally, YAML allows teams to quickly add new features and functionality without having to rewrite existing code.

On the other hand, Terraform is designed to be a more robust and powerful tool for defining cloud infrastructure. Terraform provides a higher level of control over how infrastructure is defined, and its declarative syntax makes it easier to understand how infrastructure is defined. Additionally, Terraform offers a wide range of features and capabilities that are not available with YAML.

Ultimately, the choice between YAML and Terraform comes down to the specific needs of the team. If a team is looking for a more lightweight and extensible language for defining infrastructure, then YAML is likely the better choice. However, for more robust and feature-rich infrastructure definitions, Terraform may be the better choice.

Example

Let's take a look at an example of how YAML can be used to define an application. In this example, we'll use YAML to define a Web Application Firewall (WAF) configuration.

---
apiVersion: udx.ci/waf/v1  
metadata:  
  name: waf-configuration
kind: WAF  
spec:  
  paths:
  - name: api-path-1
    settings:
      rateLimit:
        requestsPerMinute: 10
        burst: 5
  - name: api-path-2
    settings:
      rateLimit:
        requestsPerMinute: 20
        burst: 10

This example demonstrates how YAML can be used to quickly define a WAF configuration. In just a few lines of code, we've been able to define two paths and their associated rate limit settings. This makes it easy for teams to quickly define their applications in a concise and organized way.

Deploying

Once an application has been defined in YAML, the next step is to deploy it. This is where DevOps tools like Kubernetes and Docker come into play. By using these tools, teams can quickly and reliably deploy their applications with minimal effort. This makes it easy for teams to quickly iterate on their applications, deploying new changes and features with just a few commands.

Additionally, YAML is well-suited for use with GitOps tools such as GitHub Actions, which enable teams to quickly review and track changes to their applications. This makes it easy for teams to quickly identify changes, view the history of their applications, and roll back changes as needed.

Configuration Management

YAML is also a great choice for configuration management. By using YAML, teams can quickly define their configuration settings in a single document, making it easy for them to quickly apply changes to their applications. This makes it easy for teams to quickly update their applications as needed, without having to manually update each configuration setting. Additionally, YAML makes it easy for teams to track changes to their configurations, as they can quickly view the history of their configurations in a single, organized document.

Suggested YAML Use Cases

As teams begin to use YAML to define their applications and infrastructure, there are a few suggested use cases that teams should consider. Here are some suggested YAML use cases that teams should consider:

  • User to source-control ACL.
  • ServiceAccount to manage access to resources.
  • Pipeline to define the stages and steps of the CI/CD pipeline.
  • Secret to define KeyVault references for secrets to source them programmatically
  • Route to define the ingress rules to an application in a cluster.
  • ToolingService to define any external services that need to be integrated into software supply chain

Creating YAML Standards

As teams begin to create standards for how YAML should be used, there are a few key elements that should be included. Here are some suggested YAML standards that teams should follow:

  • Use a consistent naming convention for YAML elements.
  • Use descriptive and meaningful element names.
  • Use indentation to denote nesting of elements.
  • Use comments to explain complex elements.
  • Use variables to store values that can be quickly changed.
  • Define reusable elements for common configurations.
  • Define custom elements for specific configurations.

What is YAML?

YAML was created by Clark Evans in 2001 as a data serialization language. Since then, it has become an increasingly popular choice for developers who are looking for a concise and readable way to define their applications. Today, YAML is widely used by DevOps teams who are looking for a way to quickly define their applications and infrastructure.

YAML, which stands for "YAML Ain't Markup Language," is a data serialization language used to represent structured data. It is a lightweight, human-readable format that is commonly used for configuration files, data serialization, and data interchange. YAML is designed for readability, making it easy for developers to quickly understand the structure of their applications. In addition, YAML is designed to be easy to write, making it a great choice for developers who want to quickly define their applications without having to write a lot of code.

YAML is well-suited for DevOps because it allows developers to define their applications in a declarative manner. This means that developers can simply describe the desired state of their application, without having to write code to achieve this state. This is incredibly powerful, as it allows developers to quickly define their applications in a concise and organized way.

YAML can be used to define a wide range of elements, such as software components, data models, and deployment configurations. For example, developers can use YAML to define the components of their application, the data models used by their application, and the configuration settings for their application's deployment. By using YAML, developers can quickly define the structure of their applications in a single, organized document.

YAML is also a great choice for DevOps teams who are using Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) tools, such as Terraform and Ansible. By using YAML, teams can define their infrastructure in a single document, making it easy to deploy and update their infrastructure. This makes it easy for teams to quickly make changes to their infrastructure, without having to manually update their infrastructure.

Finally, YAML can be used to define data models, which can be used to automatically generate code. By defining their data models in YAML, developers can quickly generate code for their applications. This makes it easy for developers to quickly create their applications, without having to write a lot of code.

Comparison

YAML is not the only tool available to developers who are looking to quickly define their applications and infrastructure. Here are some of the other tools and languages that are commonly used:

  • YAML: Markup language used for writing configuration files.
  • ARM Templates: Infrastructure as Code language used to provision resources in Azure.
  • Terraform: Open source Infrastructure as Code tool that enables users to define, deploy, and manage infrastructure configurations.
  • CloudFormation: Amazon web services-specific Infrastructure as Code tool that enables users to create, deploy, and manage cloud resources.
  • Ansible: Open source automation tool used to deploy, configure, manage, and orchestrate complex IT environments.
  • Chef: Automation platform used to manage and deploy applications in a reliable, repeatable manner.
  • Puppet: Automation platform used to automate the delivery, operation, and compliance of applications and infrastructure configurations.
  • SaltStack: Automation platform used to manage the configuration of large-scale systems.

Conclusion

YAML is a lightweight, human-readable data serialization language that is quickly becoming popular for DevOps teams who are looking for a way to quickly define their applications and infrastructure. YAML enables developers to define their applications in a declarative manner, making it easy to quickly define the structure of their applications in a single, organized document. Additionally, YAML is a great choice for teams who are using Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) tools, such as Terraform and Ansible, as it allows them to quickly define their infrastructure in a single document.

  • YAML is a lightweight and human-readable data serialization language.
  • YAML enables developers to quickly define their applications in a declarative manner.
  • YAML is great for teams who are using Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) tools, such as Terraform and Ansible.
  • YAML is a great choice for configuration management and GitOps tools, such as GitHub Actions.
  • Teams should create standards for how YAML should be used to ensure consistency and interoperability.